1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing method, device and program for effectively arranging text and image data in a well-organized manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the recent progress in computer technology and the growth of the Internet, computer users can now quickly access a wide range of information via the World Wide Web (WWW) and easily display desired character arrays and images on reference software called Web browsers (hereinafter referred to as browsers). However, since there are occasions when the user may wish to access such information from places in which a computer is not available, the user must print out the accessed data on paper in order to reference the data at those locations. Most browsers support a printing function for this purpose. Using this function, the easiest method is to print out the character arrays and images exactly as they appear on the browser onto A4-size paper or the like.
In many cases, however, the user requires only a portion of the data displayed in the browser. By using the print function in the browser to print out the data, all displayed data including unnecessary data is printed. As a result, there are an increased number of printed sheets, which is a waste of paper. These sheets can be heavy and difficult to carry; and they take up much storage room. Further, searching through all the unnecessary data for desired data can be time-consuming.
In order to avoid these problems, the user must be able to extract only the desired data displayed in the browser and insert this data into a word processing program using the copy and paste functions or the like. Using various functions of the word processing program, the user must be able to edit the extracted data into a desired layout.
Unfortunately, the process of extracting necessary data from a browser and inserting the data into word processing software is an extremely complex one with conventional programs. When the user wishes to print both text and image data extracted from a browser onto a sheet of paper of a desired size, for example, the area on this sheet of paper must be divided into text areas for arranging text data and image areas for arranging image data. Further, operations must be performed to arrange each portion of text data and image data in a desired manner into these areas. Such operations require time and effort.